How do you cultivate a good buyer/supplier relationship?

Upstream: selecting the best suppliers

A good relationship with your suppliers begins as early as the prospecting phase, during which you choose the structures with which you're going to work. It's an important choice, and one that shouldn't be taken lightly!

This part of the work is called the supplier sourcing . It's a task of research and documentation, with the aim of drawing up as exhaustive an inventory of potential suppliers as possible.

To be sure you're heading in the right direction, it's ideal to have defined a strategy upstream of sourcing. This will save you time, and avoid a number of errors of judgment.

A good strategy focuses first and foremost on the product or service supplied: quality of raw materials, manufacturing processes, price, not forgetting, of course, production and delivery times. It's up to you to determine which of these criteria are most important, according to the constraints of your business. Visit financial health of the supplier is another element to take into account in your strategy.

A fair and secure contract

Once the supplier has been selected, the next step is to draw up and sign an agreement. commercial partnership contract . This contract defines the duration and conditions of your collaboration: amounts, payment terms, delivery times, and any other relevant information.

To get off to a sound start with your supplier, the business partnership contract must meet these three criteria:

• Provide mutual benefits (win-win strategy)

• Be sufficiently flexible

• Be reassuring for both parties

The first point is fairly obvious: if one of the two parties is disadvantaged by the contract, this imbalance is bound to harm your relationship. On the other hand, if the benefits are equal, your collaboration is more likely to be long and fruitful!

What's more, even a fair contract must always remain flexible and open-ended. This is another essential point in the buyer/supplier relationship: if either party feels that the terms of the contract no longer suit them, it's important to be able to renegotiate them with ease.

Finally, for the collaboration to run smoothly, each party needs to feel secure. The contract must therefore anticipate as many problems or difficulties as possible: non-payment or late payment, late delivery, manufacturing defects...

Prioritizing transparency and communication

Throughout your collaboration, transparency and communication are the basis of a successful buyer/supplier relationship.

In the event of unforeseen circumstances, it's important to be honest and to encourage dialogue from the outset, in order to establish a climate of trust. trust relationship . If, for example, the goods delivered do not meet your expectations, you can contact the supplier, explain the problem, and ask for a partial refund or a commercial gesture on the next order. Visit dialogue is always preferable to conflict, especially if you want to build a long-term relationship!

To strengthen ties with your suppliers, remember to communicate with them on a regular basis. Ideally, organize meetings to discuss the status and evolution of your partnership.

And of course, in the interests of transparency, you need to keep your legal documents up to date, and inform your suppliers of any updates. With this in mind, it may be worth installing an online tool (supplier portal) to perform this task for you, while limiting the risk of errors.

Promoting smooth, secure financial exchanges

Last but not least, a good buyer/supplier relationship cannot do without smooth, financially secure exchanges. Indeed unpaid and other late payments can quickly threaten your collaboration, with significant legal and financial risks for both parties.

To avoid abuse, oversights and other delays, it's best to opt for a digital payment processing solution. Thanks to automation of invoice processing, financial exchanges between the two parties are both simpler and more secure. Your relations with your suppliers will be greatly improved! This will help you avoid any conflicts linked to payment deadlines, which can easily create a climate of mistrust.